February, 2019

• 13 February

  Air France-KLM’s Dutch arm goes to battle over Elbers’s fate

  Bloomberg Long simmering tension within Air France-KLM erupted into the open after managers at Dutch arm KLM warned of possible strikes and employee unrest should Pieter Elbers be removed as head of the unit. “The possibility of an unexplainable, involuntary departure of our CEO brings a lot of tension in the workforce,” a group of managers wrote in a letter ...

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• 13 February

  Modi gets reprieve as auditor says new French jet deal better

  

  Bloomberg The Indian government’s $8.7 billion purchase of French warplanes was cheaper than a bid negotiated under the previous government, the country’s auditor said, potentially weakening an opposition campaign alleging corruption ahead of federal polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi bought 36 Rafale fighters in 2015 from Dassault Aviation SA at 2.86 percent lower than the price negotiated by the former ...

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• 13 February

  Ghosn replaces his legal team in Tokyo

  

  Bloomberg Carlos Ghosn replaced his legal team in Tokyo as he prepares for a trial on the financial-misconduct allegations that have shocked the global car industry and kept the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman in jail for almost three months. Ghosn said on Wednesday he hired Junichiro Hironaka to be his new lawyer and help him with the “trial phase” ...

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• 13 February

  Indian billionaire taps banks for US aluminum deal

  

  Bloomberg India billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco Industries Ltd. has gathered a consortium of Asian, US and European banks to fund its takeover of aluminum producer Aleris Corp. Novelis Inc., the US unit of Hindalco, has mandated a 20-strong bank group to arrange a $2.28 billion dual-tranche loan that will finance the purchase of US-based Aleris, according to people familiar ...

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• 13 February

  Tencent invests in link-sharing website Reddit

  

  Bloomberg Reddit Inc. said that it raised $300 million from investors. It was one backer, in particular, that drew condemnation from members of Reddit’s online community. Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. was among the investors in the round, which values the link-sharing website at $3 billion. In the following days, users posted links to Reddit depicting imagery banned by ...

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• 13 February

  China’s yuan nears a critical juncture as trade talks loom

  

  Bloomberg The yuan is entering a critical period after posting its second-best monthly advance ever, with analysts sounding caution as a new round of China-US trade talks gets underway. The Chinese currency could head to 7 per dollar if there’s a breakdown in the negotiations, while an agreement on no additional tariffs will send it on a sustained rally, Citigroup ...

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• 13 February

  Indonesia grabs upper hand over India in Asia high-yield battle

  

  Bloomberg In the battle between Asia’s two highest-yielding major bond markets, Indonesia once again appears poised to gain the upper hand over India. Global money managers are increasingly shunning Indian securities as Narendra Modi’s government hands out billions of dollars in tax cuts and subsidies to boost the prime minister’s appeal ahead of elections, blowing through the nation’s deficit target ...

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• 13 February

  CEOs seek Trump help to sell N-plants abroad

  

  Bloomberg US nuclear energy developers met with President Donald Trump and asked for help winning contracts to build power plants in the Middle East and elsewhere overseas. “There is competition around the globe, and we want to be part of it,” said Chris Crane, the chief executive officer of Exelon Corp., the largest US operator of nuclear plants, following the ...

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• 13 February

  US inflation contained as rates held steady

  Bloomberg A key measure of US inflation was little changed in January while the broader gauge slowed on lower energy costs, underscoring the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to be patient on raising interest rates. Excluding food and energy, the so-called core consumer price index rose 0.2 percent from the prior month and 2.2% from a year earlier, according to a ...

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• 13 February

  T-Mobile chief gives Congress pledge not to use Huawei gear

  

  Bloomberg T-Mobile US Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Legere says his company doesn’t use equipment from Huawei Technologies Co., and won’t after buying Sprint Corp. to form a bigger No. 3 in the US wireless market. “Let me be clear —we do not use Huawei or ZTE network equipment in any area of our network. Period. And we will never ...

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